BRIEF: Radian’s Earnings, Delinquency & New Biz Improve

July 26--Radian Group Inc. swung to a big profit from a quarterly loss a year previous. New policies written increased, the book of business expanded, and delinquency decreased.

Consolidated pre-tax income swung to a $181 million second-quarter profit from a $35 million pre-tax loss a year earlier, according to Radian's earnings report.

Results at the Philadelphia-based mortgage insurance company additionally improved from the first-three months of this year, when profits came in at $142 million.

Radian wrote $16.417 billion in primary new insurance. Business jumped from $11.664 billion in the first quarter and was also better than $14.342 billion in the second-quarter 2017.

The report indicated that primary insurance in force expanded to 986,057 loans for $210.741 billion from 966,309 loans for $204.025 billion as of March 31. The book of business was 928,879 loans for $191.637 billion as of mid-2017.

At 2.24 percent, Radian's default rate sank 31 basis point compared to the end of the first quarter. A32-basis-point improvement has been made versus the same date last year.